It’s spring, and streets across Minnesota are filled with a disgusting mix of sand, salt, rotting leaves, lost mittens, and candy bar wrappers that I not-so-lovingly refer to as schmooka. The faults of schmooka are many. It looks gross. It fwaps up and splatters across the bottoms of your pant legs when you walk. It clogs the storm drains, creating giant puddles in the streets. Worst of all, when it finally washes down these same storm drains, it ends up in the lakes and rivers where we hope to fish, swim, and float this summer. Right now, there are miles upon miles of schmooka-filled streets, just waiting to glurp, blop and plop their way into our water.
Happily, there is a rather simple solution. In most cases, it takes less than five minutes to walk out your front door, grab a snow shovel and wheel barrow, and scoop up the schmooka along the curb line in front of your home. After that, you can either throw the schmooka away or, if there is sunshine in the forecast, wait a few days for the pile that you collected to dry out a bit and then throw it away.
Though schmooka-removal might not be glamorous, it is actually a very impactful way to prevent water pollution in urban and suburban communities. The Adopt-a-Drain program, created by Watershed Partners and Hamline University, encourages people to sign-up online to “adopt” a storm drain near their home and keep it clear of schmooka, leaves, grass clippings, and debris throughout the year. To date, Minnesotans have adopted 22,216 storm drains and report collecting 713,495 pounds of debris that would have otherwise ended up in our water.
This spring, you might also notice street sweepers rumbling around town. Their purpose is to collect schmooka as well. Research from the University of Minnesota and Minnesota Pollution Control Agency shows that street sweeping is one of the most cost-effective ways for communities to reduce urban water pollution; it also helps to extend the lifespan of stormwater infrastructure and reduce long-term maintenance costs. Nearly 20 communities across the east metro and Lower St. Croix region have initiated new, targeted, enhanced street sweeping programs during the past three years in an effort to protect our local lakes and rivers.
Adopt-a-Drain and community street sweeping are complimentary programs that work well together. Street sweepers can collect vastly more debris than individual homeowners and are able to clean miles of roadways, including commercial and arterial roads, and other locations where it isn’t safe for individuals to head out with shovels and wheelbarrows. On the other hand, street sweepers move slowly and can take several days to clean an entire city. If community residents take a few minutes in the spring and periodically throughout the year to clear the debris in front of their homes and nearest storm drains, it helps to increase the impact of community street sweeping programs. Clearing away the schmooka from your curb line is especially impactful if you’re able to take action quickly before a rain storm.
If you’d like to officially adopt your nearest storm drain and get a gold star for the effort you spend removing schmooka this spring, head to www.adopt-a-drain.org to sign-up. As a bonus, you get to name your storm drain and you’ll be invited to join other storm drain adopters for a special Minnesota Twins Game event on Saturday, May 4.
There are miles and miles of schmooka-filled streets out there, but with your help, we can keep our streets and waterways clean.
East Metro Water 